Dave Ward, Head of New Technology, Innovation and Connected Home, Dixons Carphone

ChallengesOur business will be challenged by the emergence of utility and telco providers entering the connected home devices market. As utility providers and telcos start to enter what is currently a nascent connected home market, the potential change for consumer buying habits is very profound. By the same token, as users become more versed at online as their initial route to discover and purchase products, we as an industry need to get smarter and cleaner with our transitions from online to in store.

OpportunitiesServices; customers want and demand peace of mind and ease of use. Increasingly we’re seeing through the digitalisation of services (Uber, Netflix, Spotify, Laundrapp, Deliveroo) and the move to all in subscriptions (WeLive, WeWork etc) that users are moving more to simple ways to live their lives. We have the opportunity as retailers to leverage the services we offer to support, repair, help and advise people in their increasingly connected lives.

The path to changeThere are several retailers thinking outside of the box, putting customers first and driving their services expansion quickly. But this is all done in their core markets. We need to think how we globalise our service offerings so that we are placed well against global retail players as the world is increasingly connected and people move freely across borders.